Mapsession

A couple weeks back I watched a video online about a man who has been drawing an ever-growing map of an imaginary world for several decades. I was impressed by the commitment and creativity involved in maintaining this hobby. Days later while I was doodling I thought, why don't I try? So I got some paper, started drawing roads, and began forming my city.

I have to say creating a city that doesn't exist is pretty fun. As I continued to draw I found that my roads took on the grid-like quality of New York in some places, and the intersection nightmare of Paris in others. I began to imagine that the Parisian roads were part of an older more historical section of the city, while the grid was a modern, more developed area.

As I added additional sections to the map I added a river, parks, historical buildings, subway stations, and anything I thought it needed. I began naming districts and roads, and finally added some color. Here are the four segments I drew put together. Click for a larger view.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and I look at this as a practice run for another map. I don't plan to go out of control and keep drawing it for 40 years, but I sense where that man's obsession came from. Once you start, there is a strange interest in finding out what exists outside the borders of the world drawn so far. I've already started a new city map, which is similar in design to this one, and I'll post the results here if I think it's turning out well. That is all.